How to Install Certbot Let’s Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu with NGINX

A complete and beginner-friendly guide to install Certbot Let’s Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu servers with NGINX, enabling free HTTPS encryption with automatic certificate renewal.

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📦 Installing Certbot on Ubuntu 16.04

For users running Ubuntu 16.04, execute the following commands:

apt-get update
sudo apt-get install certbot
sudo apt-get install python-certbot-nginx

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📦 Installing Certbot on Ubuntu 18.04 and Later

For Ubuntu 18.04 or any newer version, run the following:

apt-get update
sudo apt-get install certbot
sudo apt-get install python3-certbot-nginx

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🌐 Obtain a Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate for NGINX

Once Certbot is installed, use this command to automatically configure HTTPS for your domain:

sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com

Replace example.com with your actual domain name.

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🔁 Automatically Renew Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificates

To ensure your SSL certificates are renewed automatically, add a cron job as follows:

Edit Crontab

crontab -e

Add the Following Line

0 12 * * * /usr/bin/certbot renew --quiet

This command runs the renewal process daily at 12:00 PM.

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✅ Conclusion

Your website is now secured with free HTTPS using Let’s Encrypt, and the SSL certificate will automatically renew without manual intervention.